The Courage to Face the Future
by Ayame Majikku
Summary: One-shot. Arche's waited a long time to see her friends again, so nothing's wrong with going to see them a little early, right? But when she finds them, not everything is going fine... Minor Archester, minor Klilard.


**The credit for the idea of the story in a way goes to Starry-chan. Even though it wasn't Arche and Chester that we were talking about at the time. It was two OCs of ours. And then I came up with this. So yeah. Thank you, Starry-chan!**

**For those of you who are curious, the year is 4293. ...Yes. I am such a dork that I calculated out what year everyone was born. Chester and Cless were born in 4287, and Mint was born a year before them. ...I'm such a dork that I have a whole timeline of events from year -5000 to year 5000 of the Aselian calendar. Save the Knight of Ratatosk/Dawn of the New Age stuff.**

**...Yeah. I officially have no life.**

**Anyway, enjoy the story!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Phantasia. It's owned by Namco.**

**--The Courage to Face the Future--**

A half elf girl stepped out of her house and stared up at the sky. She took a deep breath of the swamp air—the air she had grown to know and love. She carried only two items with her—a broom and a small pack. _Today's the day..._ she thought.

"Arche," her mother called from inside the house. "Be careful. And don't do anything reckless."

"I won't!" _I just want to take a peek... That's not so bad, is it?_

With a large grin at the thought, she sat on her broom and took up into the air. Wind blew her pink air backwards as she flew, and she closed her eyes. She loved the feeling of the wind in her face... and today was a special day. She couldn't calm down her raging heart, no matter how hard she tried.

_I've been good and waited a long time... Besides, no one will know me. I'll show back up again in eleven years and everything'll be fine!_

She opened her eyes again and charged over the ocean, towards the giant tree she knew so well. The continent that held it soon came into view, and she slowed down as she floated over the mountains. Making sure to avoid the sky of the village nearby, she floated over to the great branches of Yggdrasil, the world tree. There, she slowly lowered herself to the ground and hopped off of her broom.

_Okay... I'm just a traveler passing through... I even wore clothes that would keep me from sticking out..._ Much to her mother's surprise, Arche had dressed in elven clothes that morning. Carrying her broom in one hand and a pack with lunch over her shoulder, she set off to the nearest village.

Toltus was a quiet village near the Forest of Spirits. The people of the village went about their every day work without paying any heed to the wandering half elf. _Um... I don't really know where they live, come to think of it..._ She glanced around, looking for signs of the two boys she once traveled with.

She heard someone yelling and some running up from behind her. Before she could turn to look, someone ran into her and fell down. "Ow... H-hey, watch it!" a boy yelled at her.

Arche spun around. "Wha?! You ran into..." It was a young boy, about six years old. He had short blue hair slicked back, with a few strands sticking up higher as they went back. His narrow blue eyes stared up at the half elf, a scowl planted on his face. He picked himself up, still scowling. Arche's heart sped up a little, and all she could do was hold her hand over her chest and try to calm down. _This is him... It's been ninety-one years... and now he's standing right in front of me... And cuter than I ever thought he could be..._

"Hey, Chester! Wait up!" Another young boy ran up to him. He looked to be about the same age as the first, with dirty blonde hair. He glanced between his friend and the new woman with curious purple eyes.

_Chester and Cless... They're both here..._

"Ah... H-hello, miss... I haven't seen you around..." Cless spoke up.

"Nope! I'm just a traveler passing through the village!" Arche surprised herself with how easily it came out. _Looks like all of that practice paid off!_

"Well then welcome to Toltus—" As he spoke, his friend started running off again. "Ch-Chester! Stop!" He followed after.

Arche found herself torn. _It'd be best to just let them go... I'm no one right now, and they'll see me again in eleven years... but..._

She chased after them. They were her friends, and something was wrong... She had to make sure that they would be all right.

It didn't take her long to catch up to them—Chester tripped and fell into the grass just inside the forest.

"Chester, are you okay?"

"I'm fine..."

"Your parents are probably worried after you ran off like that..."

"I don't care."

"Chester... Hey, Chester... Your mother needs you..."

"I don't care! Just leave me alone!" He quickly got up and ran through the forest again, while Cless and Arche watched.

"Chester..."

"What's going on?" Arche piped up, making the young kid in front of her jump in surprise.

"Ah... It's you again..."

"Yep! Now what happened with your friend...?"

"Well... They said he's going to have a little sister or brother soon..."

_His little sister... Ami..._

"So what's wrong with him...?"

"He's worried about it..."

Arche blinked. _Worried about it?_ "Is that so...? Why don't you go see how his mother's doing, then? I'll talk to him..."

"Are you sure...?"

"Yep! Now hurry up!"

"R-right! Thank you, miss...!" With that, little Cless hurried back into the village. Arche watched him go, a grin on her face. She then hurried off in the direction she last saw Chester run.

It didn't take her long to find the kid. He was sitting by the lake, staring into the water, pouting. Without a word, the witch walked right over to him and sat down next to him. He stared up at her, surprised.

"You're that lady I ran into..."

"Ah-ha! So you admit to running into me!"

"Wha?! N-no...!"

"You just said it!"

"I-I take it back!"

"You can't take it back!" The girl tried to stop it, but she still grinned as they bickered. _Heh heh, it's kinda like old times, except now he's a kid... He's no different, though!_

"Leave me alone, meanie!"

Arche couldn't control it—she burst out laughing. _Meanie. I'll _have_ to remind him that he said that!_

"Hey, stop laughing at me!"

"Right, right!" She pat his head. "So why are you sulking over here anyway?"

He turned his attention back to the water, pouting again. "It's none of your busy-ness."

Arche laughed again. _Heh, this reminds me of the Lester children... Kids that young pronounce things odd, right? Still... It's _so_ much funnier when it's Chester!_

"Stop laughing at me!"

"Sorry, sorry... Anyway, are you worried about if your little sister will be all right?"

"...Cless told you, didn't he?"

"Only a little bit. Care to fill in the rest?"

Chester sighed. "I don't care about how she turns out... I don't want a little sister..."

The young woman stalled, awe-struck. That was not what she expected at all. _Wait a sec... But all he wanted was to have his sister back..._ "Why don't you want her?"

"Everything's going to be about her... She's not even born yet and that's all Mom and Dad talk about..."

Arche stared down at him. _This is the same doting brother as before?_

"I'm not wanted anymore..."

_And he's already angsty, even as a kid... What an idiot..._ The half elf sighed and leaned back. "I wouldn't say that... Sure, there's going to be one more in the family, and your parents will have to take care of her, too... But that doesn't mean that they love you any less."

"But they won't spend time with me after she's born..."

"Yes they will. They may need to spend more time on her, but they still want to play with both of you, and to watch you both grow up... And besides, you're going to be her older brother."

"Eh?"

"That means you have to protect her from any bullies and stuff. She's going to look up to you for guidance. You'll be like her role model, and you'll learn to love her!" As Arche talked, her little friend watched her in amazement. "You're going to be a good big brother, right? Someone that she'll want to be?"

"Ah... But won't she like Mom and Dad more...?"

"Nope! You're closer in age to her, so you can play with her more. No one will be closer than you two!" Chester thought about this, while the girl paused. _Hold on, should I really be helping with this...? Well, he's going to love her anyway... And then she's going to..._

_Maybe I can stop it... Then he wouldn't be sad... Oh, but Klarth-sensei made me promise that I wouldn't mess with their past... Um, whoops. This doesn't really count, right...?_

"She'll look up to me...?"

"Yep! You can tease her as much as you want, and she'll still love you the most! Having a little sister will be fun!"

Chester blinked, and his surprised gape turned into a grin. "I can teach her..."

"Anything you want! You're the older brother, after all."

"Heh heh, maybe I can have fun with a little sister after all!"

"Now that's more like it!" She pat his head again. "How soon is she coming, anyway?"

"Any day now..."

"Then what are you doing here? You need to be one of the first to greet her! It's your job as a new older brother!"

"Ah... R-right!" The young boy hopped up. He started heading out, but stopped once he got a bit away from Arche. "Um... Thanks..."

The half elf blinked. _A thanks from Chester? Wow..._

"What's your name?"

"...I'll tell you next time we meet. That's a promise! Now hurry up, you don't have all day!"

Chester nodded. "I'll see you again, then!" He hurried off through the forest, back to Toltus.

Arche felt better than she had in years. _Klarth-sensei, Milard... Did you see? Chester and Cless are in this world... that means that Mint-chan's somewhere, too. Just eleven more years, and I'll tell them stories about you two... And then in sixty-one more years, we'll see Suzu-chan again! We can never all gather up again, but... We'll never forget each other!_

_Cless, Mint-chan, take care... Chester, be a good older brother... I'll see you in eleven years... You better be ready!_


End file.
